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Three Environmental Excellence Awards were presented Thursday night at the 54th annual general meeting of the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority at the Asphodel-Norwood Community Centre. From left are Neil Fortin, general manager of Camp Kawartha’s Outdoor Education Centre, who accepted the camp's stewardship award; Jack Sisson, former manager and curator of the Riverview Park and Zoo, who won the partnership award; Ron Scott, former chairman and vice-chairman of ORCA, who received the conservationist award; and current ORCA chairman Terry Low. ROB McCORMICK/Peterborough Examiner/QMI Agency

Terry Low and Sherry Senis were acclaimed as chairman and vice-chairwoman respectively of the Otonabee Region Conservation Authority (ORCA) at the authority’s 54th annual general meeting Thursday night at the Asphodel-Norwood Community Centre in Norwood.

Low has been an ORCA board member for 12 years, seven of them as chairman.

Senis, the Smith Ward councillor on Selwyn Township council, begins her fifth one-year term as vice-chairwoman. She has been a member of the ORCA board of directors for six years.

Three Environmental Excellence Awards were handed out.

Camp Kawartha received the stewardship award for “continuing to find creative ways to deliver its mission of creating positive stewards of our natural and human communities,” ORCA stated in its written award presentation.

“From establishing a unique eco-mentor program for student teachers in partnership with Trent University, to designing and implementing a water stewardship program for elementary and secondary students and embarking on an ambitious facility master plan, Camp Kawartha truly innovates and inspires.”

Jack Sisson, the former manager and curator of the Riverview Park and Zoo in Peterborough, received the partnership award. Sisson was honoured for helping establish the Turtle Trauma Centre, housed at the zoo in its early years.

He was also “instrumental in the development of the highly successful Peterborough Children’s Water Festival, of which ORCA is a proud member,” the authority stated. “The festival attracts more than 1,000 students in Grades 2 to 5 from schools across the county and city of Peterborough each year.”

Ron Scott received the conservationist award for “providing 30-plus years of service to conservation in the Otonabee region watershed.” He has held positions with ORCA including member and chairman of the water management advisory board and member of the board of directors from 1986 to 1992, including terms as chairman and vice-chairman.

“He is well known for creating the Scott Model for watershed management…which became the Trent Conservation Coalition, the partnership of five conservation authorities,” ORCA stated.

The meeting also heard presentations from three panel members who spoke on the theme Healthy By Nature.

ORCA past president John Good moderated the session, which included presentations by Neil Fortin, general manager of Camp Kawartha’s Outdoor Education Centre, Donna Churipuy, manager of environmental health programs at the Peterborough County-City Health Unit, and Charley Worte, interim general manager of Conservation Ontario.

The speakers discussed the importance of a healthy and vibrant ecosystem to human health.